John,
As I noted in a previous post, I am thinking about using duplicolor. Is there anything I should do, or just spray it on like regular Brodak paint?
Hi Matt
Keep in mind that my experience so far involves using Butyrate dopes under and over the Duplicolor. So far no compatibility problems for me, but I don't know about other paints issues that may come up.
Duplicolor paints are Auto touch up paints, sold in rattle cans at the various auto parts stores, and sometimes in the auto sections of large mega box stores like WalMart.
There are 2 types sold, one is most desirable to us, laquer based, fast drying, and the other is enamel based. My experience is with the laquer based paint, though I suspect the enamel will work similar to Rustoleum paints. I prefer the laquer for it's fast drying and lighter weight. Having it compatible with dope is also a great help. As I've said above, I've used clear dope under and over it with out a problem so far.
Another positive to the duplicolor rattle cans is the noozle they use. It sprays a fan shape, rather than a circle. It makes for easier coverage for me.
The really neat colors are only available in the spray cans at the stores I buy it from. Speaking of the colors, they make colors to match most of the cars on the road, so the selection is super.
I can tell by your work with your Ares, that you have above average skills, and you care about the final project, so for you and others like you, I'll list out the procedure I used to this point.
I used Nitrate dope on the framework to seal up the wood before applying any coverinng. I had some problems later on in the finish, that might have been caused by the Nitrate, and I'm considering using Butyrate from the beginning in the future.
I applied Polyspan to the wing, using Nitrate thinner, ( because of the nitrate sealing coats on the wood ) with about 10% nitrate dope mixed in. It went pretty good, but I think I'll go back to using Balsa rite and my heat iron in the future. Ironing it on is much easier, accurate, and allows some flexibility with compound curves, a nemisis to some when it comes to Polyspan.
After all the wing panels were covered, I used my heat gun to shrink the Polyspan nice and tight. Be carefull to glue Polyspan tightly into place at first, because if you depend on shrinking out some baggy loose covering, you may have problems with holes where too much heat was applied. It's better to get the stuff tight right from the beginning.
I used Silkspan over the fuselage, flaps, stab, and elevators.
Next, I applied 4 coats of 50% thinned Nitrate. I would apply Butyrate if I were doing it again today. Why you may ask? simply that after the 4 coats of Nitrate were dried over night, when I put the first coat of butyrate on, the surface reacted with a waffle like pattern all over the open bays. No problem where I used silkspan over the wood.
Ensueing coats of butyrate only made the problem slightly better. The last two coats of butyrate had Zinc Stearate mixed in, and I really like how it works an helps level out a finish. Still, the open bays would look like "Alligator Skin" for houis after a coat was applied. I sanded out the Zinc coats, and it helped, but still bothered me, so I sprayed on a light coat of Duplicolor silver, and sanded it off with 600 wet or dry. This really showed the low spots over the open bays.
At this time, it installed the fillets. I used a mixture of 30 minute epoxy and micro balloons to make the fillets. I went into greater detail on the fillets, in a post above.
Next, I sprayed on a coat of Duplicolor primer. It's a easy sanding auto style primer. The next day, I sanded as much as possible off, then sprayed on a thin blocking coat of Duplicolor silver.
I found a really great foam backed sanding pad. It's about 600 grit, has a waffle like construction, and is very soft and fleixible. I used one to smooth down the silver paint surface.
From there on out, I used the blue flexible fine line style tape that picks up nicely, and limits any paint creep under the edges. I used a low tack masking tape, and aluminum foil to mask.
It went fairly fast due to the paints fast drying qualities. I like working with it, and think Duplicolor is worthy of consideration for your project. But, remember it's not really fuel proof. You'll need to coat every nich and cranny with clear dope before using it, Unless, of course, you're running an electric...
Topic: Torino on the gear, and almost ready for clear (Read 2109 times)